Science is making killer (tasting) tomatoes again

From the “Day of the Killer Tomatoes” department comes this curious story from the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY about food science and making tomatoes great again…at least the store bought ones.

Why are so many supermarket tomatoes tasteless and rock hard? In the 1990s, breeders developed a tomato that produces less of the hormone ethylene, so they stay hardened for shipping and then ripen in store. That delayed ripening combined with other breeding moves have made tomatoes bigger, redder and great for shipping, but also less satisfying in salad. This video shows how scientists are learning how tomatoes mature so that soon you may see and taste totally terrific tomatoes at the supermarket. Watch the latest Speaking of Chemistry video.

Folks who are familiar with the delicious flavor and texture of a freshly picked, vine-ripened tomato often feel betrayed by the hard, bland, red orbs sold in many supermarket produce aisles.

But a tomato flavor revival may be in store thanks to a group of researchers led by the University of Florida’s Harry Klee. The scientists sequenced the genome of 398 wild, heirloom, and supermarket tomato varieties. With the help of human taste panelists, they then identified the 28 most pleasurable tomato flavor and odor chemicals, including leafy geranylacetone, floral β-ionone, and citrusy 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one. Most supermarket tomatoes have much lower levels of 13 of these appealing molecules than heirloom varieties have, Klee says (Science 2017, DOI: 10.1126/science.aal1556).

To figure out which regions of the tomato genome are responsible for the biosynthesis of these desirable compounds, the team turned to tomato varieties that make them at high levels. The work provides a chemical and genetic road map to improved tomato flavor, Klee says.

The team’s goal was to be able to tell breeders: “Here’s what’s missing, here’s why, and here are the molecular markers you can use to help breed back these lost traits,” Klee tells C&EN. “We are trying to push the flavor calendar back decades to recapture the characteristics that were present in tomatoes in the first half of the 20th century.”

In recent decades, tomatoes have become America’s favorite fresh produce, now topping the fruit and vegetable industry with nearly 10% market share. With such high demand, breeders began focusing on making tomatoes that looked good and shipped well without considering the impact on taste, says James Giovannoni, a research scientist at USDA.

For example, most supermarket tomatoes have a genetic mutation that partially delays the production of ripening hormones, thereby adding one to two weeks of shelf life. An unintended consequence of the mutation, however, is that flavor and sugar production are also diminished. Meanwhile, when breeders selected for fruit with a uniform red color, they did not realize that the splotchy green patches on wild and heirloom varieties that they got rid of contain chloroplasts essential for sweetness and flavor production, Giovannoni says.

The new study builds on these discoveries by taking a genome-wide look at the chemistry and genetics of hundreds of tomato varieties and connecting the fruit’s chemistry with people’s preferences. The researchers also discovered that when breeders selected for larger fruits, the added girth came at the expense of sweetness: The enzymes required for sugar production got redirected toward bulking up.

“I don’t know if it’s possible to make a supermarket tomato that tastes exactly like it was grown in your own garden,” Giovannoni says, “but I have no doubt that this work can help breeders make supermarket tomatoes a lot better than they are now.”

“Although they were approved in the US and several other countries, tomatoes with delayed ripening have disappeared from the market after peaking in 1998. At this point, no genetically modified tomatoes are being grown commercially in North America or in Europe.”

My understanding is that the dreadful red things sold in supermarkets that look like tomatoes and taste like cardboard are a product of selective breeding, not genetic modification.

Here in New England, some supermarkets carry brownish red tomatoes with a brand name Kumato that have a limited shelf life, but actually taste like tomatoes. I don’t know if Kumato is sold elsewhere.

I live in a fairly far north location, so don’t need tomatoes for the tropics. The University of Florida’s Klee research producing Garden Gem and Garden Treasure is working very well for me. Plus, I almost always try a new variety each year just for kicks and to learn what will grow and what won’t.

The problem of bland-tasting produce is not limited to tomatoes, although it is a major example. Peaches, plums, and numerous other fruits suffer the same fate. I grew up in a major fruit-growing region where I often ate fruit straight off the tree, and the tasteless crap that they sell in grocery stores today is a travesty and a tragedy.

I picked plums one summer off my grandfathers then 60 acre orchard, used to conserve the orange country heavy oil drilling site for the future from real estate taxes. Worked alongside the ‘mestizos’ (illegal mexican igrant farm laborers). We picked at 60 % ripe by color to minimize transportation spoilage. Maximum flavor is 90-100% ripe. (Most tasters cannot tell the difference at that point). Made below minimum wage, as we were paid for fruit picked, period. Made sense then, and still does.

agreed
and once again they go and take from the heirlooms that breed true dont cost if you save the seeds and then..
they screw around and patent it and the mug consumer gets to pay mega bucks
grow your own!! heirlooms.

My guess, from an egg factory that was opened not far from my early home is that they keep them in tiny spaces, stacked cages 6 or more feet high, no exercise, nothing consumed that wasn’t in the feed bags, odd day-light/night-dark patterns, lots of antibiotics. Tried them a couple times and my mother (who had raused barns-full in her time) said they were “watery”, short on some of the phospho-lipids/lecithin that act as emulsifiers, perhaps.

I used to have 7 little egg laying Barred Rock hens. I fed them basic chicken scratch and they supplemented that themselves with a few bugs and worms. I noticed no significant difference in flavor of their brown eggs from regular grocery store eggs (white or brown). The only difference was that they were often larger and more often had double yolks. Perhaps, with you, it is a freshness issue? Around here, the eggs are very fresh in the regular grocery store.

P.S. They cost much more than regular eggs. I only raised those 7 chicks for: 1) fun for the kids in my life at that time; and 2) I hate the thought of the miserable life of a non-free run chicken. Now, I pay more for the “free-run” eggs (not a great life like my little hens, but, better). If I could afford (at this time — someday, I will! 🙂 ) truly free run eggs, from someone’s farm, I would buy those.

We get eggs from free range Barred Rock, Americana, and Rhode Island Red hens next door. The eggs of the Americana are bluish, while the others are brown. They all taste about the same as the white (probably Leghorn) eggs we get in the store, however the yolks of the free range hens are definitely darker.

Because of the increasing daylight or some such trigger, hens are laying eggs faster than locals can get rid of them. We were offered some today. We will carry over frozen berries, and trade. They are also cheap in the stores. However, I know of 2 people that take eggs to the Seattle area markets. One gets $6/dz (free run in a vineyard) and the other gets $9/dz but those are certified organic and I don’t know what else.
We’ve had a couple types of game-birds, Chickens, and Turkeys. Such things are good to do for a bit, but like you, no more.

City eggs are washed, while farm eggs typically aren’t. After the washing, the eggs need to be refrigerated. Gathering and shipping eggs takes time, so the air inside the eggs gradually leaves the egg. Ever noticed when hard boiling eggs for deviled eggs that the older eggs don’t have that air pocket in them?

well, my chooks roam and get to eat real grass ie no colourant added to crummy store feed.
they eat real bugs for protien they get given wheat and scraps
the eggs are bright yellow and change the colour of any cake baked naturally
and they taste wonderful
you feed commercial feed pen them in dont give them fresh greens you get scrawny chooks and pale tasteless eggs.

Yes, the machine harvested tomato was developed by G.C. Hanna & others at U of CA at Davis beginning in 1947, and traveling as far as NY in search of harder varieties, choosing to work with the “Red Top”. The harvesters began to be deployed by 1962, and he had a workable tomato by 1971.

See Everett M. Rogers 1983, 2093 _Diffusion of Innovations_ pp150-152; it was in some hand-me-down books from a former protege, and I passed it along to an agricultural economics prof in SC who was a protege of another former co-worker.

There are some words about wanting to dispense with USA & Mexican farm-workers. Coby Lorenzen credited with design of the harvester, and Ernest Blackwelder with manufacture. Not quite as much vitamins in the machine harvested varieties, either, so this new work could be a good development all around.

The video was pretty good with nice graphics and a pleasant, matter-of-fact, narration style. Re: the narrator’s fire away in the comments, here you go! 🙂

Re-do this video taking into account the following:

1. Re: the public not liking GMO foods, so, use the slower hybridizing techniques,

Nonsense! Don’t cave into those cave-person mentality protesters! Instead, use public education to tell the public the TRUTH: GMO foods are exactly as safe as non-GMO.

2. a. This viewer kept wondering, “But, do those cheaper, inferior flavor, tomatoes have the same NUTRITION value?”

Answer this Q, or else those of us who do not have the discretionary income to spend on nicer tomatoes simply will not — we will err on the side of saving money and hoping the yuckier tomatoes are giving us the nutrition we need (the main reason we are eating them).

b. IF the price of the new, great-tasting, tomatoes (assuming equal nutrition value) is about the same as the bland tomatoes, the above is not a concern.

c. IF the price of the new tomatoes is too high for the average consumer to buy, be sure that the new tomatoes’ price is about the same as home-grown tomatoes (they are significantly more expensive than the bland story tomatoes, given the water needs, etc.) AND educate people about the cost of home-grown — people think they are cheaper and won’t buy your delicious, expensive tomatoes, even with a comparable price, for they believe home-grown is cheaper (PLUS it is convenient).

d. vis a vis the above, re: allocation of your advertising $$ — don’t even try to grab the “no-pesticide” “organic” people — they have a cult mentality about science and simply buy based on their fears/quasi-religious beliefs. Tha is try SOME public ed. here, but, don’t expect to get past their fear-based belief system and waste lots of ad $$ on it.

3. In the U.S., “heirloom” is pronounced with a silent “h.” This may seem like quibbling, but it was annoyingly distracting and in communication, getting the audience to listen is essential. No matter how good your facts are, distractions like that can prevent effective communication. “HAIR loom? Oh, brother” I kept thinking.

4. See other comments on this thread — I’m quitting here and there HAVE to be some more good thoughts on this! 🙂

**************************************

A final thought vis a vis possible taxpayer funding for this (not assuming there is any at time time):

There are MANY more things we need to be spending money on before indulging in this worthwhile, but very, very, low priority desire of Americans.

Your post is interesting and thought-provoking. I write to comment on your point 2c, viz.

c. IF the price of the new tomatoes is too high for the average consumer to buy, be sure that the new tomatoes’ price is about the same as home-grown tomatoes (they are significantly more expensive than the bland story tomatoes, given the water needs, etc.) AND educate people about the cost of home-grown — people think they are cheaper and won’t buy your delicious, expensive tomatoes, even with a comparable price, for they believe home-grown is cheaper (PLUS it is convenient).

As I am sure you know, that is simplistic because taste, nutrition, convenience and affordability are not the only significant factors affecting retail sales of a foodstuff. Other important issues include brand loyalty, packaging, appearance, not being too cheap, advertising, etc..

Tomatoes are a clear example because they were first introduced to Europe as aphrodisiacs; they were called ‘love apples’. There are still people who assert the aphrodisiac properties of tomatoes, e.g. this web site does. The poaching of rhinos and the price of rhino horn demonstrate what some people are willing to pay for aphrodisiacs.

Good to see you. Thank you for your thoughtful and worthwhile comment. Yes, indeed, my quick-and-dirty comment left out a LOT, huh?

Lol, never heard about the aphrodisiac claim. I’ve always wondered why….. why do they need an aphrodisiac (at THAT level of market demand)? Weird. Most people in the U.S. appear to have the opposite problem!! Adultery is rampant here and those who resist temptation are not in need of any aid… they just managed to serve Honor (with God’s help in most cases). Also, with all the medical-assist drugs on the market, why do they go after the rhinos anymore? — sickening to me.

Thank you for the brief-but-helpful listening therapy session (as to “that” issue).

When radioactivity was first discovered, people went nuts with delight over it. Back in the day, you could buy radium-laced bread, radium water, with all manner of health claims made for it. Glow-in-the-dark watches were super cool, and Madame Curie wrote up her lab notes by the glow of her radium stash. And of course, real-time x-ray views of your feet in shoes made great sales appeal.

Took a while for folks to catch on that, no, maybe we oughtn’t eat that stuff, or dose even our extremities with quite that much — shoe-shop x-ray devices didn’t get banned till the ’70s.

Cigarettes — how about the ads claiming X brand cigarettes as being “recommended” by doctors? If a doctor back then suggested avoiding smoking, would he have been called a “cave person”?

Me, I’m’a wait and see how you volunteer lab rats do, before I indulge in GMOs. Funny thing, in my cave we are familiar with the history of science . . . and of humans. E.g., as readers of this blog know so well, all peer-reviewed studies can be trusted implicitly and only Luddites doubt them.

GMOs have been tested, and no health affects have been found.
Your analogy to radiation is invalid, because it was never tested.
Your analogy to smoking is invalid because everybody knew that it was bad for you.

PS ~ People drank water that was certainly not healthy, for many years too . . before it was realized there were things in the water that was causing harm . . that it was happening for many years was obviously not the whole story, so to speak . .

Your post is interesting and thought-provoking. I write to comment on your Point 2c; viz.

c. IF the price of the new tomatoes is too high for the average consumer to buy, be sure that the new tomatoes’ price is about the same as home-grown tomatoes (they are significantly more expensive than the bland story tomatoes, given the water needs, etc.) AND educate people about the cost of home-grown — people think they are cheaper and won’t buy your delicious, expensive tomatoes, even with a comparable price, for they believe home-grown is cheaper (PLUS it is convenient).

As I am sure you know, that is simplistic.

People have a variety of reasons for their retail purchase choices with price and nutritional value being only two that apply to any foodstuff.

For example, significant numbers of people equate cheap with inferior and, therefore, many products lose retail sales if too cheap. And many people have loyalty to a brand or a supplier which is why companies pay for most advertising. And packaging affects purchase choices. etc.

Your illustration of eggs provides a clear example of packaging issues. Hens eggs need cheap, protective packaging because the quality of the eggs is the main consideration of most egg purchasers. Chocolate Easter eggs need fancy packaging because the appearance of the packaging is the main consideration of their purchasers.

Indeed, tomatoes are an especially clear example of a foodstuff purchased for reasons other than price and nutrition. The first tomatoes conveyed to Europe from the New World were imported as aphrodisiacs and were called ‘love apples’. There are still people who assert the aphrodisiac properties of tomatoes; e.g. see this web page. The poaching of rhinos and the price demanded for rhino horn demonstrate the extremes people will pay for aphrodisiacs.

I don’t often agree with Mr. Courtney, but in this case I do. Marketing beats all.
I have a friend who who once worked for a brass foundry. They got a request from Colonial Williamsburg for period reproductions of brass trivets(three legged stands for hot pans). Initially they produced three authentic reproductions of colonial designs that sold for $7 a piece or a box of three for $19.95. They sold OK, but much below CW’s expectations. The next year they were packed in individual boxes with colonial-themed packaging for $30 a piece. They couldn’t keep them on the shelves they sold so well.
In a similar vein, Consumer Reports did a piece on weddings a few years ago. Part of it examined dresses. They bought about 30 different dresses from various shops and designers ranging in price from $300 to $3000 and went over each one for quality- fit for actual sizes, workmanship, materials, design, etc. They came up with the three best quality ones. One sold for $1500, one for $600, and one for $1100-1200. According to the retailers most dress sold in the $2000 and up range. The tested $1500 dress, made by a high end designer, was a best seller also.

Regarding tomatoes and fruits- for several years we had a backyard garden. In dry years the green peppers were small, maybe 2inches, and very strongly flavored. In the wettest year they were much bigger, about 4inches(8x volume) and much blander, similar to store bought. My take, the plants evolved to produce a certain amount of flavor chemicals per bud. It’s energetically very expensive for the plant. More water just makes it easier to produce bigger, blander fruit.

The nutrition question applies to all domesticated plant foods we’ve been altering over the last century or so, but I’m not sure we yet know enough about human nutrition to answer it. We’re still figuring out how badly the first nutritional guidelines issued by the Dept. of Agriculture messed up.

Very likely true. I don’t have any problem with eating GMO foods. But we won’t be absolutely sure for many decades — centuries for all you and I know. Someday we may be able to sequence the genome of the lab’s brand new presectioned pineapple with a hide that unzips and can be made into shoes/purses, and leaves that are crispy and taste like potato chips. Then feed the genome through software and predict exactly what chemicals are created during growth and in storage after harvest. And in what amounts. Not any time soon.

It doesn’t matter what tomato you use, engineer or create. As long as they are picked green and treated with ethylene gas to make them turn red, they will always have no taste. It is my understanding that if you irradiate the tomatoes after picking you can leave them on the vine to ripen naturally and they will remain fresh long enough to get them to markets.

That won’t work. Not from a technical standpoint mind you, but a psychological one. I had a neighbor that about had an apoplectic fit when I was expounding on the wonders of irradiation. You would have thought I was telling him to go have a picnic in Chernobyl or Fukushima didn’t want his kids glowing in the dark.

Anything hinting at “radiation” makes idiots freak! Of course this was the same neighbor that was scared to death of “those blamed government agents and their chemtrails”. So maybe I have just run into a large number of people with a few screws loose.

Chemtrails are real. The two main chemicals are hydrogen hydroxide and dihydrogen monoxide. With some carbonic anhydride and a few nitrogen oxides. Rest is air. Those all are chemicals and they trail the plane.

When I was in college, we kids referred to putting food in the microwave as nuking it.
Because of this, I once ran across someone who actually thought putting food in a microwave would make it radioactive.

Been doing that for years, after the last Tomatoes get harvested we always have 20-30 lbs of tennis balls we keep them cool , dry and in dark. As we need them we put a few with apples or pears and have a supply that lasts for months.( we actually just last week had to buy our first store bought ones since September!) We favor Romas because they have more meat and need a lot less watering than others. We also got a variety called Fakel they are from Russia very long lasting and hardy. As far as fruit is concerned like apple ,peaches etc? Nothing better than tree ripe!

The best tomatoes I ever grew were some wild Mexican Cherry tomatoes in a raised bed heavily treated with Azomite rock dust. The plants were over 6 ft tall and sprawled all over the place.
Doubled the yield and incredible taste. We were picking quarts every day all summer long.

That you find them comical is because you were laughing so hard that you overlooked a few factors. Cost needs to be factored in (also availability of an area to grow them in, inter alia). I have grown vegetables at home, including tomatoes, and it costs more. If cost is not a factor, then, YES. However, in my neck of the woods some years, without a greenhouse, it is almost impossible to grow enough tomatoes to make the effort and expense worth it. Also, even in a GREAT tomato year, we in this area would have to go without tomatoes for about 9 months out of the year.

I live in northwest Montana, and while growing tomatoes here is more of a challenge, it isn’t impossible. A greenhouse is necessary. But, life is too short to settle for bland tomatoes. And, I grow enough so that the canned sauce and tomatoes, retaining their excellent flavor, last me the rest of the year. And, then some…

Containers are a great idea, but, you still need: plenty of sunshine, room in your apartment, water, seedlings, soil, fertilizer, etc.. Great hobby. I’m just trying to focus on the market potential vis a vis the average buyer, not the absolute feasibility of it.

Get an Aerogrow – essentially plug-n-play LED lit hydroponics. You can grow tomatoes and peppers all year round no matter where you live. The thing only uses 45 Watts for the lights, plus a small air pump.
Also great for starting seeds.

I agree, and I intend to raise my share this summer. AND my share will always be the tastiest tomatoes out there: Roma Tomatoes. They may not be the biggest, but Mama Leoni knows taste best, and I’ll go along with her thinking. The key is “Less Acid” and “more sweetness”.

Even growing your own doesn’t solve the problem if you use standard seeds for varieties such as Big Boy, Better Boy, etc. They used to have flavor (back in the early 80’s), but now they are as bad as supermarket tomatoes. Because I DID grow my own, and they were horrible. Right now, heirloom tomatoes are the way to go via my local farm stand. (And their vine ripened regular varieties are also almost tasteless.)

If you don’t like the flavor of the tomatoes, do not buy them. But, if you live outside of the tropics, you can only rely on fresh tomatoes a few weeks in the late summer.

In my own experience, I have found that there are more, and better tomatoes on the market now than there ever were in the past. Some of the hothouse tomatoes that are now available in stores up here in the frigid north outside of our brief growing season are quite good.

But, the wide availability of fresh produce grown far away is a good thing, even if some of it does not meet your exacting culinary standards.

Plant your own, Pilgrams! I did, one batch of Aunt Lucy’s German green tomatoes, prized as more succulent than any red tomato, and one hybrid green tomato for making fried green tomatoes, since I have no way of buying green tomatoes. Can freeze breaded green tomatoes also.
Will plant my seedlings out in several weeks. Every seed I planted produced a seedling.

No mention of refrigeration…which also causes tomatoes to lose flavor. The growers, shippers, and retailers go to great lengths to get tomatoes from the vines and onto the shelves without refrigeration. The first thing people do when they get them home is put them in their refrigerator and then complain about the taste.

It doesn’t take 6-8 apples. One will do. Been doing this for MANY years with the less-than-ripe tomatoes at the end of the season when a frost is due. Works great. I use a brown paper shopping bag and just sort the tomatoes by color.

Remember hot-house tomatoes? They weren’t very tasty either but like today’s that are shipped in from someplace warm, they were available in winter. Here in the Midwest the greenhouses burned coal. All gone now. Replaced by airplanes and refrigerated trucks.

Those interested in this tomato story should read Tomatoland, by Estabrook. Available as an inexpensive Amazon ebook. The story is not just of tomatoes, tomato genetics, and tomato commercialization, but also of the illegal immigrant tomato laborers extensively used by the industry, told through the lens of South Florida’s massive tomato industry. UF’s pictured new ‘ugly ripe’ variety with more flavor and the ‘red gene’ features prominently near the end of the book. I buy it whenever available locally. Both tomato and book Highly recommended.

And completely off topic. Did anyone see the Guardian article on the state of the climate today? I can’t recall a single fact in it, just a complete rant. It threw the comments section Green Goblins into a complete feeding frenzy.

Store bought strawberries are the worst. Just bland and bulky. Hey the farmer gets paid by the pound so you can’t fault him for focusing on increasing “pith” of the final product.

Good news for me is there are lots of berry farms that I can either pick or buy at that have strawberries (and other varieties) that are like candy. I’d rather have them frozen than the store bought fresh. No contest.

With complete respect Janice – breathe. I’ve been gardening more or less regularly for more than 40 years. Two observations: 1) you can make gardening expensive if you like, but it certainly isn’t a requirement. As an example, I don’t pay a dime for my containers (empty laundry detergent tubs, free containers from Home Depot/Lowes that would otherwise be a disposal problem for them, e.g.). and 2) I gardened when our 3 daughters were little, and both my wife and I worked full time jobs. Like I said, priorities.

And I suppose, O Wonderful Miller, that you were living in an apartment at the time. Good for you.

“Breathe” not equal “with respect” — you don’t even realize how pompously ridiculous you sound.

Like I said, enjoy your delicious tomatoes wearing a smirk. My only goal, which you seem to have completely missed, was to focus on the “average consumer” vis a vis marketing the posted video’s tomatoes.

Nancy, got news. Depends on where you live. My Wisonsin tomatoes almost always fail. My Chicago tomatoes come through late, even though planted in a SW corner to take advantage of the brick wall reflector warming.

Lots of commercial-grown produce is less tasty than home-grown or wild varieties. I grow a big garden and the differences are yuge. One particularly big difference is blueberries. My family would pick hundreds of pounds of wild berries each year (and freeze them for use for a whole year). The commercial bigger ones found in the grocery store are not even close and taste rather crappy. The wild ones are truly special.

Try finding Black berries wild ! wow . We are lucky, where we live the whole area used to be a huge ranch were early Japanese grew the fruits, berries and orchards we find wild stuff in a lot of places! ( sadly though it is getting developed and it is getting harder to find stuff. Most farmers today have also put up deer fencing that stop you from getting to areas that still have wild fruit growing.)

I have been growing several varieties of tomatoes each year during the last 20 or so years. Weather and other growing conditions will sometimes favor one or two varieties over others. Of late, I like Burpee Big Beef, and the Super Sauce varieties. Of heirlooms, I like the orange colored Jubilee and Romas. The orange Jubilees make rather exotic looking tomato sauce.

Last year was pretty good, so I’ve still got about 60 quarts of whole and crushed tomatoes downstairs. To make good sauce, however, it takes about 3 quarts to make about 1 quart of thick Marinara sauce.

I do agree with the article above. There’s room for improvement in the store tomatoes and the biochemical approach will get results.

Try a couple of the “cherry tomato” types. There are red, yellow, and other odd colors, and different shapes and sizes.
Do an “Images” search with — cherry tomatoes
You will get a very colorful screen.
From a garden store, buy several different types in small plastic pots.
Seed packets give you 35 or so of the same thing.

I had to make 2 trips to Whole Foods Market to find out if their advertised “Heirloom” tomatoes were as tasty as my home grown Cherokee Purples and Brandywines, etc.
1st trip, I bought $15 worth but dropped the sack when I got home and ruined them both.

I look forward to the new tomatoes! But it saddens me that they have picked apart the flavoring of a tomato to the point that the bragging rights to the best flavor (Hanover Tomatoes or New Jersey Tomatoes) will be decided by a measuring device instead of the subjective palate.

I have an even better formula for killer (tasting) tomatoes, which I have been using now for over three years. Here’s the process:

(1) Locate a small parcel of ground that receives at least 6 to eight hours of direct sun per day during the warmest months of the year.
(2) Add soil amendments such as homemade compost, composted cow manure, and/or a basic granular fertilizer, like 10-10-10, working this all into the first six-inch, top layer of your chosen parcel.
(3) Go to Lowe’s and buy some tomato plants.
(4) Dig planting holes for your bought plants, in the soil you just amended.
(5) Intertwine a soaker hose between your plants.
(6) Position sturdy cages, trellis, stakes, or some other form of supporting structure near your plants.
(7) Make sure your plants get at least an inch of water per week, more if really hot, … probably 2 inches is better.
(8) Prune, if you want bigger fruits.
(9) Watch out for pests, and take appropriate action if the little suckers invade.
(10) Pick you developed fruits.
(11) Eat.
(12) Never buy grocery-store tomatoes again; just live without them during the colder months. If you live where it’s cold, then, tough cookies, bub, I guess you are condemned to trying to eat those hard, generally tasteless (by comparison) store-bought thingies labeled “tomatoes”.

This conversation brings back some very early memories. Probably about 1944 and I was maybe 3 years old. Military pay had not done much for Dad’s portfolio, so one day he and Mom went out to join the tomato harvest. No child care, so I was left to my own devices in the tomato field. Being of a natural scientific bent, I undertook an empirical investigation of the flavor of…dirt. Summary for policy makers: Floridian dirt tastes terrible–right up there with coffee.

You are putting forth a consensus view that is flawed, I’m afraid, as I have empirical evidence disproving your claim about the taste of dirt, …. in the form of a large German shepherd who apparently has quite an appreciation of its flavor.

Since it’s tomato-planting time (or nearly so for many), some of us have tomatoes on the brain. I’ll be starting mine, which are mostly heirlooms, from seed next week. My climate can be cold and variable, even in the summer, so I must be creative by using a greenhouse and/or moving potted plants around.

This should be filed under ‘having destroyed the market for luscious tomatoes 50 years ago, we are the people you should trust for super tasting tomatoes in future’. Supermarkets….who seek to bankrupt farmers, suppliers and customers alike…..

It is like tasking McDonalds and Coke with addressing the obesity and diabetes epidemic their unhealthy products did so much to exacerbate.

Why not sue them for £10trn instead and let those committed to healthy produce make a decent living?

We have a saying in the US, Johann: When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is put down the shovel. Your comments are almost incoherent, which I can partly understand with English not being your first language. However, your weak attempts to mock and slander me are laughable. Now, go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under.

Storebought eggs are bland and watery because the hens only eat feed. Even free range chickens do not actually forage, eggs from foraging hens are called “pastured.” My hens produce delicious eggs with bright orange yolks and whites that stand up in the pan. They forage on bugs and worms and plants, and that forage comes out of real dirt. It rains a lot here in Seattle. Add it all up and you get mud and manure on your eggs, they look terrible this time of year. So they get washed, and then they look good. Even after a few weeks of storage in or out of the refrigerator, the quality does not decline very much. So IMO the whole washing thing is overblown.

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